And so I find myself falling down the rabbit hole that is the seemingly never-ending quest for higher magnification.

I've been an amateur photographer for the last decade, starting off with a 5D Mark II and the standard kit lens. Now I find myself using things I never even considered as photographic equipment! The following is more or less a description of my journey to my present state of mind:

"Oh, I got a new DSLR but the kit lens can't do macro work. Gotta get a macro lens."
"Hmm, the macro lens is fun but now I need extra light. Gotta get a Speedlite."
"Hmm, the flash is great, photos are looking even better, but I wish I could get even more magnification."
"Those extension tubes are a pain...okay, time to get the MP-E."
"Okay the MP-E without the MT-24EX is almost useless...."
"I have no DOF at 5x, time to learn about stacking."
"Stacking handheld shots is making me lose my mind. Time to get a rail."
"Rail is awesome...but...I wonder what I could see at 10x?"

And now, without entirely understanding how I got to this point, I find myself contemplating purchasing expensive microscope objectives and all kinds of odd adapters (Raynox???) and IKEA lamps (do they have any idea who is buying those?). Even worse, I'm catching houseflies and spiders and admiring extremely detailed photos of tiny creatures. My friends think I have gotten "a bit weird lately." What has happened to me? Who I have become?

Oh no, you have become one of us! There goes all your savings and your disposable income for the foreseeable future. But you'll be seeing weirder stuff than the most adventurous astronaut, at a tiny fraction of the price of a flight to an alien planet._________________Lou Jost
www.ecomingafoundation.wordpress.comwww.loujost.com

I´m there myself, aint no cure for it after you been bit by this. The fascination of the small world. Seeing the unseen world.
You capture a 5mm fly, photograph it in 5x magnification and make an A3+ print out of it.....

Sorry my friend, but we are captured in a fascinating world _________________Kind Regards
Harald

I saw an unused Nikon XXx XXXX XXXX infinite objective at a very good price. Bought it quickly - bargain, yay! It sat on my desk for a few weeks, annoying me that I hadn't had a chance to try it. I thought I'd better put it in the right drawer so I could find it.
Then I found I already had one.

I saw an unused Nikon YYx XXXX XXXX infinite objective at a very good price. Bought it quickly - bargain, yay! It sat on my desk for a few weeks, annoying me that I hadn't had a chance to try it. I thought I'd better put it in the right drawer so I could find it.
Eventually I tried it. It was a dud. Too late to send it back.

I saw an unused Nikon XXx XXXX XXXX infinite objective at a very good price. Bought it quickly - bargain, yay! It sat on my desk for a few weeks, annoying me that I hadn't had a chance to try it. I thought I'd better put it in the right drawer so I could find it.
Then I found I already had one.

And the one already there is a back up for a back up. That was why it was not remembered

I saw an unused Nikon XXx XXXX XXXX infinite objective at a very good price. Bought it quickly - bargain, yay! It sat on my desk for a few weeks, annoying me that I hadn't had a chance to try it. I thought I'd better put it in the right drawer so I could find it.
Then I found I already had one...

That made me laugh so hard my wife wanted to know what so funny, after explaining it, she didn't see the humor for some reason?

A good one?

Someone asked me about velmex unislides, I often pick them up for XY stages when I see bargain on Ebay, so I had to look for a certain slide, then I realized, I have 13 unislides, and thats after selling Chris R one! No photographer needs 13 unslides.

Another good one?

I was on the only bidder on an Ebay auction a few months ago. I won a re-badged Nikon MM-11 base and column for $50 so I drove 700+ miles round trip to pick it up. When I get there my wife sees it and asks, dont you have one of the same thing already? I informed her, no, honey this one is a Zygo, the other one is a Nikon. They are exactly the same except for the name badge. The Zygo hasnt been touched since we got back home in May. :-)

You guys have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). But we outdoorsey hand-held macro folks are probably not much better.
I have not duplicated any purchases (yet), but I do have a Wish List in Amazon that runs for several pages._________________Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

You guys have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). But we outdoorsey hand-held macro folks are probably not much better.
I have not duplicated any purchases (yet), but I do have a Wish List in Amazon that runs for several pages.

Hi Mark,

The real dangerous one for me, and I am sure lots of others is Ebay saved search list with notifications enabled.

I just picked up another Scanner-Nikkor lens thanks to Ebay, but after that I am done, no more Ebay for me :-)

The real dangerous one for me, and I am sure lots of others is Ebay saved search list with notifications enabled.
Robert

Definitely! I can't resist those notifications of "neat stuff I *might* have a use for". It's why I have a cupboard full of exquisitely engineered gizmos that are of little practical use in my day-to-day activities. At least they were cheap, and their parts often save the day when "re-purposed". But they are soooo well engineered - it's a guilty pleasure to just sit and fondle them sometimes

This is my most recent acquisition which arrived a couple of days ago. A micro-injector that popped up in a saved search notification. I figured I could use one in conjunction with a (spare) micro-manipulator to select and isolate individual critters from pond water samples. Only £20. Truth is, I can already collect critters perfectly well by hand using a stereo microscope and a fine-tipped pipette, though the smallest can be troublesome. However, where some may see only a micro-injector, I also see a glass syringe, a Narishige magnetic base and a very fine threaded drive. All could be handy components in their own right. At some point... Maybe...